The Diego Diaries: Function Over Form (dd6.11)
EDITED. THANK YOU, GUEST, FOR THE ERROR NOTICE. :D:D:D
-0-On the street
They stared at each other in the deepest silence, then the aliens sidestepped into the alley to disappear. Prime watched them, then glanced at Jetta. Jetta nodded and with Magnus in tow hurried across the street to enter a parallel alleyway. Prime turned to Ratchet. "Start a file on this. Tell me what happened. We will wait here."
Ratchet nodded, then hurried back inside. The rest gathered around Prime. No one said a word. It wasn't like there was anything to say.
-0-Ratchet
He walked from one corpse to another. Each of them died the same way. Chips in their processor exploded killing all of them. Given that they all ended at the same time, it was clear that the decision had happened purposefully and all of the deceased expired at once. He walked from apartment to apartment and came to the same conclusion. They were called home, they gathered, then they were terminated at the same time. He wondered if it was so on the other three planets. In this colony, there were 110,000 individuals. It gave him pause to consider that they all died at the same time but it was appearing to be so.
He walked out to the street, then paused before Prime and the others. They looked as grim-faced as they had when exploring the bombed out cities of their home world. "They all died the same way. There were chips in their processors that when detonated exploded several processes that were enough to terminate the individual. Each of them died the same way in this group and at the same time. It was a cold-blooded deliberate act of mass murder, Optimus. If there is one individual alive in this colony, I will be terribly surprised."
-0-In space
Prowl turned from the tactical monitor to the sensor screen. It was complete. They were surrounded. No one made a move but they were forming a wall of ships that were revving up power, but not in a weapons-oriented manner. He was watching what he knew was coming and even though it was, they were not in any danger yet. The ships that encircled them were linking up a wall of energy that would be lethal for anyone to attempt to breach, though how it would affect this fleet was still unknown to him. It was a fence that encircled them, holding everyone to this area.
"They're linking up, Prowl. When they reach full power I hypothesize that they will empower a dome. It will enclose us entirely. I am unclear if it has the ability to prevent our bridges. They, after all, open in various specific points of space and are often dealing with ambient energy. I would like that to be borne in mind in your calculations, however," Perceptor said as he sat at a computer with Wheeljack working out the physics of the alien's moves.
"Thank you, Perceptor. So noted," Prowl said as he watched a flash of energy connect each of the ships that were forming into groups of three to make the connection, then send it on to the next. As they did, big ships flew out of the group to take up points both 'below' and 'above' Prime's fleet. They were joined by other huge ships flying in from the direction they had all traveled to get here. What their purpose was Prowl didn't know but he watched them carefully.
-0-Jetta and Magnus
Both mechs paralleled the group that had watched them down the street, hesitating at intersections as the aliens crossed. They were armed and so were the aliens who were a mixed group. So far, nothing of a threatening nature was happening. They continued to shadow the group well aware that they could be walking into a trap. Their sensors were spread widely.
-0-Warlord
He traversed the planet seeking life signs or indications of habitation. The only cluster of signals that might be Cybertronian was in the colony. He spent time flying over the outlying areas where they worked mines or had different installations. All of them were empty. Everyone had returned to the colony for some reason, by some process. It infuriated him greatly.
As he flew, he didn't notice that there were others flying at greater altitude. His focus was the ground. When it was clear that someone was nearby, he pulled up sharply, flying with great speed toward the sky. They followed.
-0-Prime
They walked here and there checking different housing units. The story was the same. No one was alive. Everyone was dead. The burden of the atrocity was incredible as they walked onward. It was then that they began to see aliens in the city watching them from a distance. No one made any moves to come closer but they were becoming more and more common a sight around the colony. Prime and his group walked to a building nearby that addressed itself as a utility station. With Raptor guarding the door, the group walked inside.
It was clean, utilitarian, functional, and no more. Machines were still running. Desks were still what they were when their occupants picked up to head home to their deaths. Walking to a console, Hard Drive keyed in to play the last thing reported colony-wide. He glanced at Prime. "Here we go."
Prime paused looking around and turned with the group to listen. "This is One of Twelve. It is upon the order of the Council that everyone report to their homes for a drill. This is a drill. Everyone, please report to your homes. You may acquire your children but you must be at home before 1600 joors on the master chronometer. I repeat. This is a drill. Gather your families and report to your domiciles at no later than 1600 joors on the master chronometer. One of Twelve out."
Prime stared at the desk with a half finished energon cube and a snack cake of some kind. There were images in cubes of family and friends, unfinished work and other personal touches. He felt emotion surge, then quashed it. Dialing down his emotional subroutines slightly, just enough to keep his calm, he nodded. "Please … gather what you can. How does that time square with the calculations you have for their deaths, Ratchet?"
"As you would expect from them, Prime. Precision. It's the exact moment of their deaths thus far," Ratchet said bitterly.
Prime nodded, then picked up the picture cube. He subspaced it, then did so with all the obvious personal effects that were on display around the room. He seethed for a moment, outwardly as angry as any of them had ever seen, then it subsided again. "We will fight to prevent further desecration. They want to pillage this place. They will pillage our people. I WILL NOT ALLOW IT!"
No one said a word. They all felt it. Then Hard Drive stepped closer. "We may have to destroy this whole thing, Optimus. We may have to destroy the colonies or even the planets."
Prime turned to Hard Drive. "We may have to but the planets … they have spirits … souls. Caminus has a spirit. So did her star. The star asked me to help save Caminus, to prevent her death when he went nova. I never knew it before but I spoke to them. I met them. These planets have spirits. We just cannot destroy them. That is not the first option."
"Oh, frag. I forgot about that," Ironhide said. "I blew up a planet once. I blew up a sentient being? Are you sure?"
Prime glanced at him. "They're sentient."
"Frag," Ratchet said. "Fuck. I think that's a better word."
"I will not argue with you, Ratchet," Prime said. "Come. Let us continue." Then he paused. "Prime to Prowl. Update us, the entire group, internally."
:Prowl here. We're encircled. They crafted an energy ball and we're in the middle. It's rather ingenious. Wheeljack and Perceptor are studying it. We're sure it won't meddle with our bridges but it might be a bit of a problem with the dreadnoughts. Bridges pinpoint a specific location to open that uses a different process than a titan or dread who personally teleport. We aren't sure if this might be an issue. All-in-all, its quiet. They haven't called to us again:
"Keep me informed. Right now, we have no survivors and indications are that they were lured to their homes, then murdered all at the same time. We have aliens watching us but no overt acts. Prime out." He turned to the others, then nodded. "Let us go further."
-0-Warlord
He flew upward pursued by two individuals. They registered to him as organics who had good flight capability. They were armed with devices on their arms and others held in their hands. They weren't as fast or as maneuverable as he was but they followed him well. He flew ahead, then transformed into root mode. Hovering in the air, he watched as they flew nearby, then hovered themselves. Staring at each other, they took each other's measure before one of them flew closer. He raised his hand and a beam shot out of the device held there hitting Warlord directly in the chest.
Warlord seized, then felt his body flash warnings. He felt groggy a moment, then began to fall. He fell downward with the two beings in hot pursuit.
-0-Prowl
"Warlord just went off the screen, Prowl," Blaster said as he glanced sharply at Prowl.
"Fix him with a bridge. I want him now," Prowl said.
Blaster moved to the bridge station taking the seat from the newbie Home Guardsman to his great relief. His digits began to fly.
-0-Warlord
They flew after him diving straight down. Reaching his body, they grabbed a limb and before they could react, fell into a blossom of energy that appeared out of nowhere. Into it they fell, then disappeared.
-0-On the deck
The group clattered to the ground, the organics lying dazed. The room had no atmosphere which became apparently immediately when the two avians began to gasp loudly. A tech nearby swiftly created the right conditions as the two avians relaxed into their light headed torpor. Inferno who was present along with medics for Warlord gripped both by the arm. Dragging them up, he nodded to the bridge operator. "Beam me in, and make sure there's an atmosphere in the brig, Toffi."
Toffi, a small femme who was a waitress in the Tower in the Sky at Iacon nodded. She did.
-0-Prowl
"Well, that solves one question. Our bridges work inside the net."
"All intel is good intel," Wheeljack replied.
"Prowl, the ships at 234.06 degrees fired a torpedo. It's headed for us," Whirl said.
"Shall I put them down, Prowl?" Xantium's voice replied as he began to materialize on his own deck. He walked to the viewports to see a torpedo heading his way. "Puny thing. Want to make a wager it runs out of gas before it reaches me?"
Prowl grinned. "No. I asked Rainmaker to take care of it."
They watched for a moment as nothing happened, then every Seeker sitting on a hull nearby fired on the torpedo. 500 rounds of energy and a good dozen small rockets headed for it. It took a moment for both to collide but they did blowing up in a blazing display of light and violence. It felt good to see. Prowl turned to Xantium. "Return the favor. Matching payloads."
Xantium grinned with glee, then offlined his optics. A slight rumble below decks indicated a missile had been launched. It flew out headed for the trio of ships that had launched it. The entire Autobot side watched as a small ship was launched. It flew toward the torpedo shooting as it went. Half the shots were good and the torpedo exploded.
"Well, we're tied," Prowl said dryly. "Their turn."
-0-Raptor
He turned to Prime as the group walked down the main street of the colony. Businesses were running but there was no one there. They were heading for the city hall or the local equivalent. He slowed as he listened, then turned to Typhoon. "They need you, Ty. The aliens are testing us. They traded shots, one for one."
Prime nodded. "Let us get some information from their command center. I am unclear if they would destroy things before they left. Go back, Typhoon, and keep me personally updated. I trust all of you to handle this with your usual great skill and patience."
Typhoon bowed. "I am yours to command." Then he derezzed to disappear. He would reappear next to Rainmaker, his great good friend, and the two of them would do their best to prepare for what looked like a fight.
-0-TBC 5-19-17 edited 5-20-17